Wednesday, January 27, 2016

The Iowa Caucuses are drawing near. Next Monday, this state that I've grown to love, not because of where it is or what it looks like, but because of the people I've come to know, will make a decision that will help shape the direction of country for the foreseeable future. The weight of a nation and the eyes of the world are now focused on Iowa.

Josh, Mitchell and Allison knocking on doors for Ted Cruz. Who cares about the cold? Iowans surely don't.

The next few days will be full of door to door campaign work, a debate watch party, a Sunday at Marion Avenue Baptist Church and a rally in Iowa City followed by some retail campaign work in Coralville, North Liberty and Iowa City on Monday before the caucus. I will then lead the precinct where I live for Ted Cruz and cast my vote in the Iowa Caucuses.

Chelsy, Josh, Jessica and Taylor helped me knock on doors in Fairfield, IA before a Rally with Ted Cruz

With the preparation and networking the Cruz campaign has done, we have been able to recruit about 12,000 volunteers in the state of Iowa. This is unprecedented. This is why we'll win. The people behind this campaign in Iowa are why Iowa is a good place to live. Young, old and everyone in between. It would take me days to list all of the people that I've come to respect and love during the course of this campaign. I've made friends that I will have forever and I thank God for that. For more on the people that mean so much to me, you can read this post from a few weeks ago.

Glenn Beck speaking in Waterloo, IA. Glenn has endorsed a candidate for the first time in his career. He believes in Ted and so do I.

Who knows what the future holds? All I know is that I will continue to be active in the political arena. I may get tasked to go to South Carolina in support of the #CruzCrew. If that is the case, I would be honored. But once the campaign is done, I think that Iowa will be the place I call home for the foreseeable future. There is much to be done here and it starts with returning the state to a conservative way of life. Our own Republican Party of Iowa has been infested by crony corporatist interests and it must stop. I will actively support and campaign for any Constitutional conservative that challenges the Branstad machine in Iowa.

A debate watch party at the Dutch Country Inn in Kalona.

In closing, I think that we will shock the world on Monday. The #CruzCrew is ready. We will help pave the way for the most principled candidate to run for president in my lifetime. This will officially be the first vote that I am truly excited to cast and I know there are thousands of Iowans like me. If you haven't joined us already, why not? I know I pledge my life, my fortune and my sacred honor to the restoration of this great land and its founding documents. Join us.

Daniel, Cris and me on a 15 degree day knocking on doors. This is how you really reach people.

Thursday, January 21, 2016

You all know who I support for president. Ted Cruz has been my chosen candidate from the first time I met him. I gave the others a chance and no one else speaks for me the way Ted Cruz does. He is morally clear. He is consistent. He is a Christian man who doesn't mock our Risen Lord. He embraces his faith and when he quotes from the Bible, you know that he knows what he is talking about. Ted is also a constitutional scholar. He uses the Constitution and the Bill of Rights as the basis for all of his policy arguments and standpoints. He has fought to hold up our natural rights and he acknowledges that our rights don't come from man, but from Nature's God. He's a pretty easy guy for me to support. I've been pouring all of my efforts into his campaign since September. He is everything that Donald Trump is not. Follow along.

Donald J. Trump. I'm to the point now that the even his name makes my skin crawl. As I delve deeper into Mr. Trump's past, I keep finding more things that raise huge red flags.

Donald Trump supports "touch back amnesty". He has said that while he wants to deport all of the illegal aliens currently residing in the United States, the good ones would be back "very" soon. What is the point of deporting them to their home country if you are only going to let them come back "soon". Ted Cruz has never supported citizenship status for those that have entered out country illegally. Rule of law matters.

The issue of illegal immigration is the Donald's central issue. It seems like he could, at the very least, be more coherent on the subject.

These are only just a few of the reasons from the domestic policy angle on why I think Trump is just as dangerous as any Democrat. In fact, I don't see a real dimes worth of difference in the two. National Review agrees with me.

Here's where it become personal to me. I know Ted Cruz. I've spent more time in Iowa with Ted Cruz than anyone except his national staff and the Iowa campaign director, Bryan English. I've been to almost every corner of the state with him. I know his father. I've met his wife, Heidi. I know he misses his daughters when he is on the campaign trail. I would crawl over broken glass with a knife between my teeth for this man.

Donald Trump's personal attacks on Ted Cruz are beyond the pale. To randomly attack someone's faith when you, yourself, can't even quote a verse from the Bible printed in front of you is disgusting. To parade your Bible like it is a prop is even more disturbing. To those of us Christian believers that are saved by grace through faith in a Risen Lord, Donald Trump's words are empty and even blasphemous. He's free to use such language but he must also be held to account by Bible believers everywhere. To see the difference in how Ted Cruz sees his faith, click here.

Perhaps the most disturbing aspect to Donald Trump's belief system is his acceptance of abortion. He says he doesn't like the practice but in a 1999 interview with Tim Russert on Meet the Press, he said he was very pro choice, even to the point of allowing partial birth late term abortions. The procedure is so barbaric that it makes me sick to my stomach. Donald Trump is at peace with abortionists delivering a nearly full term baby to the point of being next to completely outside of the birth canal and then sucking the infant's brains out. This issue is enough for me to never, and I mean NEVER, support Donald Trump. As you may know, I am the uncle to a preemie nephew. I wrote about my personal pro life story here.

If Donald Trump had demonstrably come to a new found faith in Jesus Christ and repented from his sins (he says he doesn't need to), then I would believe him when he says his views have changed. Since the Bible says in Matthew 7:20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. I know that I've changed since rededicating my life to Jesus. There is no evidence of the same in Donald Trump. If he fell to his knees and asked for God's grace through Jesus Christ, I would happily welcome him into the faith and I would consider his new found "religion" a positive. Until that point, I will consider him to be someone outside of a true relationship with Jesus. Rather than giving Donald Trump credence in this presidential race, Christians should focus on praying for his soul, that he might be saved.

Lastly, I'll leave you with this verse. Proverbs 29:2 When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn.

Let us turn away from our wicked ways and elect a good man for the highest office in our land.

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

On the Thursday before my birthday this last October, I was given one of the greatest gifts anyone could ever ask for.

I was at a Cruz campaign strategy meeting with radio talk show host, Steve Deace, getting the lay of the Iowa political land. I sat next to Marlin Bontrager and his son Josh. During the course of the evening, we talked and found out we lived just a few miles from each other and the topic of churches came up. I had told him that I was looking for a place to attend worship on Sundays. All he did was invite me to his church in Washington, Iowa. That Sunday morning, I got up and made the choice to go to Marion Avenue Baptist Church. That decision changed my life.

From the moment I walked into Marion Avenue, I felt welcomed. I instantly had things in common with the people there. They spoke my language. They have a clarity of purpose and a vision of what a church should be and that is a place to hear the truth and proclaim the good news. Pastor Joseph Brown, whom I now call my friend, welcomed me that very morning. I heard a Bible based sermon that actually related to issues facing everyday Americans. I was blown away. This wasn't just a theoretical church, this was a church equipping the people in the pews to do battle with today's crumbling society. Near the end of the service, Marlin Bontrager leaned over and asked me to join his family for Sunday dinner. That was the second part of his gift to me that day.

Mitchell Bontrager rode with me so that he could show me the way to his family farm. We talked and I got the sense that I wasn't going to just any place, but a very special place. What I saw and experienced that Sunday afternoon will be with me for the rest of my life. It was a family of 12 people under one roof that work in concert with one another. The love they show for one another is nothing short of amazing. Maybe it shouldn't be but in today's culture, it is.

I'm writing this piece because the Iowa Caucuses are near and what I've known for the past 5 months is almost over. My friends that are from all corners of the country with the campaign will move on and the Bontragers are getting ready for another season of touring the country to minister to people all over. Lord knows that we need the ministering. I want to say thank you to every last one of them and I look forward to remaining friends with them for as long as I walk this earth.

Marlin, Becky, Chelsy, Mitchell, Allison, Carson, Josh, Denver, Taylor, Elizabeth, Hudson, and Rebecca have shown me Christian love and I just hope I've been able to return just a small amount of that same Christian love to them. I'll miss the conversations with Mitchell and Denver about college football. I'll miss seeing Elizabeth smile and be a light to all those around her. I'll miss Allison's no bake cookies and her playing violin while hanging from the ceiling. I'll also miss talking to her about faith and gratitude. I'll miss Taylor's wisdom that belies his age. I'll miss Carson's straightforwardness. I'll miss hearing Hudson singing along with the hymns. I'll miss Marlin's kind words and encouragement. I'll miss Becky's kindness. I'll miss Josh's biblical knowledge and I'll miss Chelsy's unvarnished opinions and I'll also miss seeing her with all the little children at church. Chelsy has a heart for little children like no one else I've ever seen. I think she's some kind of baby whisperer and it is quite a sight to behold. God has shown Himself to me through every member of this family and I praise Him for it.

I will keep every member of this family in my prayers. I pray for their safety in their travels and I pray that they are able to help lead others to know Jesus as the one true way to salvation. I knew that I was saved but I just needed a reminder. Marion Avenue and the Bontragers have done that.

I will stay in Iowa as long as I feel God working through me here. I look forward to joining Marion Avenue Baptist Church as a full member and seeing where God leads me in this area.

I encourage every one that reads this to find a Bible believing and Bible teaching church. If your church doesn't keep fast to biblical truth, find a church that does. Knowing that you are a believer saved by grace through faith in Jesus is the best feeling in the world. When I first became involved with this presidential campaign, I thought meeting all of these important and impressive people would be the most impressive thing I'd done in my life. How wrong I was. Finding my way back to a Christian life was the best thing to happen to me.

2 Chronicles 7:14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

Friday, January 8, 2016

The issue of the disgusting left wing (and sometimes establishment Republican) media has been weighing heavily on my mind for a while. I expect attacks on the candidate I support. Heck, I even expect attacks on me because I'm so vocal about supporting that candidate when I'm in public. What I don't expect is attacks on friends of mine who, while they also support the same person running for president that I do, aren't nearly as involved in the daily aspects of recruiting volunteers and responding to leftist media requests.

On Wednesday, January 6th, I did what I usually do and that is be a voracious consumer of the news regarding the campaign here in Iowa. I was especially interested in the coverage of the event that I helped work on Monday evening with Senator Ted Cruz because my friends who have a musical group had performed there and there was a huge contingent of press in attendance. I had talked to one of my friends about some of the press coverage Tuesday evening at another campaign event and he said that most of the coverage was straight up but there had been some misquoting of song lyrics and the like. I didn't get around to it that night but after speaking to another member of the family about the same coverage Wednesday, I decided to research and find the media bias. What I found disgusted me and made me angry. I was so angry that I sent an email to the pastor of the church I attend asking for prayers because I didn't want the anger to consume me for the rest of the week.

To the point, the radical left wing online rag, Salon had picked up a piece submitted by a freelance left wing writer named Quint Forgey (not making that up) who had attended the event on Monday, January 4th. What he penned was a blatantly bigoted anti-Christian hit piece where he opined that he heard the "scariest family band of all time", saying that he was struck by song lyrics that said that kids should have a mom and a dad(true) and that we should be concerned about the efforts to curtail religious liberty(also true). This writer was concerned that people in America could still want to hold fast to values that made this country great because those views must be intolerant or something of the like. I felt dirty after reading this piece for the first time. I felt my blood pressure rise. He was talking about my friends and he didn't know a thing about them.

I'm not going to use the names of my friends in this piece but I will say that I had a conversation with the eldest daughter about this issue this week and I told her that the dirty press coverage would likely get worse. To that end, Ted Cruz has told us in a national conference call on Tuesday of this week that the slings and arrows would be many and that we should be strong in our cause because we are working toward a noble end. He quoted from the verse below.

Ephesians 6:11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

The Left and some on the Establishment Right fear Ted Cruz and the people that support him. They know that Ted's base of support is the most knowledgeable and solid of anyone running on either side of the aisle. To a person, the people involved in our effort to elect Ted Cruz are in tune with those values that have made the United States of America the envy of the world. Those values are being trampled on and marginalized now for some politically correct nanny state concept of false tolerance and blatant anti-JudeoChristian hatred. The political establishment on both sides also fear Ted Cruz because he wants to remove power from Washington, DC and restore the rights of the States to be the laboratories of freedom and self rule that they were intended to be when this country was founded. Think back to when people moved to a state because that state was a bastion for their values. That is becoming less the case now as the federal government seeks to stamp out the differences in the states.

My anger has been turned to action for good. As the bible says:

Proverbs 28:1 The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are bold as a lion.

Proverbs 29:2 When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn.

I won't let anger consume me any longer but when I see something written that slanders a friend or friends of mine, I will use that as evidence that our cause is true and that we are working to do God's work here on earth. I believe that God has raised up Ted Cruz as an answer to prayers of many believers and that we are called to do work for His will. No man is perfect, with the exception of Jesus of Nazareth, but there are still great men who would help lead us away from oppression and tyranny and toward freedom and liberty. In that liberty, we will then be free again to live as God wants us to. Again, to echo Ted Cruz in a more modern sense, if you aren't taking flak, you aren't over the target. I think we are over the target.

Tuesday, January 5, 2016

As I write this, there are only 27 days until the first presidential primary decisions take place in the United States. I've come to respect many of the people of Iowa. They take their duty to vet candidates seriously. In turn, I take my responsibility to my country seriously. Being in Iowa has shown me that candidates are just people, flesh, blood and bone like any other person. Knowing that, it makes it all the more important to practice discernment when choosing a candidate to support.

Ted Cruz and Dr. James Dobson in Winterset, IA

Dr. Dobson has endorsed Sen. Cruz for President

By now, unless you live in a cave or you just woke from a 5 month coma, you know that I support and campaign for Senator Ted Cruz. He is the only man out of the many people we have to choose from that I feel completely comfortable supporting. I've spent so much time talking to voters and traveling the state in support of Ted Cruz that I am now a polished advocate for freedom, liberty, family values, school choice, border security, a strong national defense, economic freedom, free markets and limited government that I can make the case to anyone I meet on any of these issues. I credit Ted Cruz, Bryan English, Bob Vander Plaats, Steve King, Louie Gohmert and my pastor, Joseph Brown, for showing me how to be an effective and strong advocate. I know I've always held these positions. Now, I can effectively advocate for them.

Our campaign has expanded as the Iowa Caucuses draws near. We have a strike force of volunteers from all over the country who have, on their own dime, showed up to Iowa to help Ted Cruz win and in doing so, launch this campaign toward the nomination. All they get is a place to stay, what we call Camp Cruz(its a furnished dorm) and a carpool, if needed, to make phone calls and knock on doors. The dedication is awesome. This campaign will be won by volunteers talking to their friends and neighbors. Ted Cruz will do his part. The #CruzCrew will do ours.

If you are not in Iowa but still want to help Ted Cruz win the Iowa Caucuses, you can do so with a smart phone and a pair of microphone equipped headphones. Get in touch with me and I'll get you signed up to make calls from home into Iowa. I'll handle all the questions from people that you can't answer or don't have enough experience to feel comfortable answering. I'll call or email anybody to win a vote for Ted Cruz in Iowa or anywhere in the country. Like Ted Cruz has told us on a nationwide conference call, we need to be prepared for all the flak being shot at us. He told us to strap on the armor of God and go forth with a message of hope and conservative reform.

If you want to see a truly great man elected President and want to help, email me below to volunteer or click on the donate link to help fund this nationwide grassroots campaign.